This project is a case study of the aging process of farm owners, and in particular, of intergenerational relationships as they affect the management of the farm. It is organized round the hypothesis that landownership provides elderly farmers and their spouses not only the resources to achieve a modicum of economic independence in old age, but also respect and status in the community. Landownership implies the control of valuable resources, and ensures the retention of a certain amount of power in any intergenerational relationship within the family. At the same time, the economic power derived from landownership often comes at a price, for considerable emotional tension might occur between generations as a result of inheritance. The study will use documentary and interview material from a community in northeast Iowa. Documentary data will be collected from materials in the public domain, and will be used to select an intensive sample of farm families who will then be interviewed. Three areas of inquiry will be stressed. (1) The developmental cycle of the farm family, and intergenerational relations before transfer, (2) The transfer and inheritance phase, (3) retirement, family structure, and the economic position of the elderly in later life. The data will be analyzed on a computer using bivariate and multivariate statistical routines.